Politics

City 'shocked to hear' about impasse in water war talks

By Bill Moss, Published: April 25, 2025

The Hendersonville City Council and City Manager John Connet say county commissioners pushed ahead to endorse a bill in the state Legislature to outlaw annexation-for-sewer even as negotiations were progressing — in the city’s point of view — to resolve the long-running conflict.

In a letter it sent Wednesday to state Sen. Tim Moffitt and Reps. Jennifer Balkcom and Jake Johnson, Connet said that commissioners during their discussion two days earlier had “implied that negotiations between Henderson County and City of Hendersonville had reached an impasse and negotiations were stalled. The City of Hendersonville would like to state for the record that the two local governments had not reached an impasse on the matter.”
The city manager then went on to describe a meeting on Friday, April 4, involving himself, Mayor Barbara Volk, Mayor pro tem Jennifer Hensley, county commissioners Michael Edney and Jay Egolf and County Manager John Mitchell.
In the meeting, the city presented “proposed business terms for an interlocal agreement and a growth boundary,” a zone where the county would accept annexation of development that needed city sewer service.
Subsequently, Hensley drove Egolf for “a real-world perspective of the proposed (growth) boundary.”
“Up until the Board of Commissioners resolution, City Council members were under the impression that negotiations were continuing to progress as preferred by our local legislative delegation,” Connet wrote. “The City of Hendersonville was shocked to hear during (Monday’s) meeting that negotiations had stalled.”

Connet and city council member defend the city's annexation-for-sewer practice as a sound policy that gives the annexed property other urban services as well, including police and fire protection. Commissioners say the policy undercuts their ability to prevent urban sprawl in unincorporated Henderson County and that it potentially could turn farmland into commercial or high-density residential development.
The council continues to “look for opportunities” to resolve the conflict locally, Connet said. It has floated the idea of a contract with Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue for fire service in annexed areas, addressing the rural department’s concern over loss of tax base.
“The City Council feels that the city has continually extended the olive branch to resolve this matter locally but the Board of Commissioners refuse to negotiate in good faith,” Connet said.